§ Viz is bringing out an attractive hardcover editions of Hirohiko Araki’s JOJO’S BIZARRE ADVENTURE: PART 1 – PHANTOM BLOOD, a much liked and very strange manga.

In the series’ opening volume, young Jonathan Joestar’s (JoJo) life is changed forever when he meets his new adopted brother, Dio. For some reason, Dio has a smoldering grudge against him and derives pleasure from seeing him suffer. But every man has his limits, as Dio finds out, and thus begins a long and hateful relationship!

I got a review copy of this and I look forward to sitting down and reading it.

§ It was hourly comic day last weekend and some people did draw comics all day, like Raina Telgemeier.

“Royal Oak-native Bastian has become one of the foremost scholars on the the mythos of the legend since he started researching it for a book several years ago. He spoke in depth on the topic at a recent book signing at Green Brain Comics for his newly released graphic novel titled simply “Nain Rouge.” It was the first time working in the graphic medium for Bastian, who has also authored a trilogy of young adult books based on the legend.”

and I realized it was JOSEF Bastian, who made a graphic novel about a local cryptozoological legend. Two guys named Bastain in Michigan…crazy.

Paste: Right, in 2007. And this past fall you also picked up the first Governor General Award for Children’s Literature Illustration given to a graphic novel. What does it mean to you to be recognized for non-comic-exclusive awards?

Jillian Tamaki: I think that’s great. I think that by being recognized by, say, library associations — and it’s great to be recognized by comics people as well — I think it just means that a wider variety and range of people are reading comics, which I think is a good thing for creators and the medium itself.

Mariko Tamaki: I think that comics have been kind of emerging in stages. One way to say it is that it’s a fad and publishers are getting interested in graphic novels, but I think in the larger scheme that more readers are collectively understanding that there’s a variety of ways to absorb a story. And comics being included with other literary awards is sort of a nice recognition that comics are literary, and as much as they’re beautiful, that they also can tell complex stories, which a lot of comics before this have been able to do.

§ Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO Dick Costolo came out and admitted ‘We suck at dealing with abuse’ displaying the kind of far sighted observational skills that earn you a $11.5 million a year in stock options. In an internal memo that was leaked he wrote:

I’m frankly ashamed of how poorly we’ve dealt with this issue during my tenure as CEO. It’s absurd. There’s no excuse for it. I take full responsibility for not being more aggressive on this front. It’s nobody else’s fault but mine, and it’s embarrassing. We’re going to start kicking these people off right and left and making sure that when they issue their ridiculous attacks, nobody hears them.

The big question for me is whether this surpasses or merely equals Roger Goodell in the “What CEO can get the most po’foced over abuse he didn’t want to see for years.” I’d say far surpasses, because the Twitter abuse thing is so out of control beyond anything anyone with any sense of customer service, let alone human decency, would tolerate. I wonder how Costolo would feel if his daughter or mother got abuse such as Anita Sarkeesian documented, and is super common for people (male and female) who speak on certain topics on Twitter. I only get tweets like this very occasionally, but even one can be enough to take the wind out of your sails. So good for you, Dick Costolo, maybe twitter shouldn’t be a free for all for abusive ***holes.

Heidi MacDonald is the founder and editor in chief of The Beat. In the past, she worked for Disney, DC Comics, Fox and Publishers Weekly. She can be heard regularly on the More To Come Podcast. She likes coffee, cats and noble struggle.